


A Mother's Love

by Korkyra



Category: DCU, Smallville, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cancer, Divorce, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Fuck you Lionel, Fuck you too DC you know what you did, Gen, Married Couple, Mentions of Cancer, Mother-Son Relationship, On the Run, Psychological Trauma, Writing Exercise, a way out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27418420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Korkyra/pseuds/Korkyra
Summary: She had enough.
Relationships: Luthor & Kent
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	A Mother's Love

Ever since he was a child, Lex would sometimes get heavy headaches that would render him incapable of existing.

They weren't exactly what doctors knew as cluster headaches – nothing about Lex's ailment fit the description, the MRI's his mother insisted on rather than anything else showed nothing wrong with him in the physical sense.

They would show up unannounced, just like that, regardless of blood pressure, atmospheric pressure, or even stress. Lillian, God bless her soul, picked up on her husband's neglect the moment he shrugged off yet another headache of their son.

Well, maybe not neglect, but don't mess with a woman whose child is suffering from as of yet unidentified causes for an extended period of time. She would admit that she may have overreacted at that time, but she would be right to have done so regardless. Ever since Lex started his unenviable journey of unspecific migraines, Lionel started fearing his wife on more than one level.

It was one thing not know why exactly a meteor shower caused issues with Lex's health in the first place, but these headaches arriving shortly after that was just too much for Lillian to...tolerate.

What she thought of her husband's ideas on how to handle this was easily demonstrated with a hot coffee pot, full of course, hitting Lionel as she put on a sun hat with her travel case in one hand and Lex's hand in the other as she embarked to find a doctor who might have a clue.

Seems like the wife Lionel thought he had under control was anything but under it. One more comment from him and she's probably do a lot worse than hurling a coffee pot just of the stove at him.

Smallville's sheriff enjoyed that development way too much to say anything more than _good day ma'am, do you need a lift ma'am, safe journey, give a ring if you need anything_.

So, in that light, it came to be that Lillian kept her child away from his father for enough time to foil all his undisclosed plans without ever actually suspecting them. She was a wife furious at her husband for his nonchalance at their son's suffering and would remain so.

She'd acknowledge her overreaction at some point, sitting in a train with Lex sleeping in her lap, travelling up to New York, as the summer sun warmed her skin though the window, it's not as if Lionel could do anything against it but at that moment it pissed her off to unbelievable extents she couldn't quite place why and she never cooled off after that.

She kept telling herself she'd talk to him when she came back, but that also never happened.

Series of doctor appointments followed, as well as consultations, tests, psychologists, psychiatrists, neurology teams which dragged on for months, as well as every time Lionel contacted his wife he managed to piss her off even more and, that too, dragged on.

Smallville had it's own domestic troubles event.

No one knew why exactly it happened. Speculations were made and as it so goes, people took sides.

Lionel fell into a nightmare scenario. How dare his wife make a fool out of him? For what? Whom, in the end? Not like they couldn't have another child if Lex's condition turns for the worst.

The last part, no matter how much grieving lost confused husband and sorrowful father he layered on it, missed out on achieving the desired effect, but instead made some people think. Not many of them, of course, but enough to play in Lillian's favour.

Jonathan Kent, much like the sheriff, never liked him, and after that carefully constructed statement, his dislike became the bedrock of everything concerning the man. It came to the point of him rooting for the kid to never see that man again.

For someone who had only recently adopted a child, it pained him to think that way. Every child deserved a loving family, parents who took care of their children, looked after them, fought for them until the end, not write them off like that. Absolutely disgusting.

Lillian is sorting out the mountain of papers in her new apartment in Boston for Lex to start school following September while they're searching for a treatment for those awful headaches, with him getting better regarding the other issue. At least they were getting somewhere with that.

The phone her husband had the number for starts vibrating, making the woman roll her eyes. Only one person would call her on it.

“Lillian, stop this nonsense at once.” Lionel began, as usual, though sounding more tired than anything this time around. “You've made your point.”

“No.” Lillian said, hanging up.

Next, there was a short buzz, indicating she got a message.

She ignored it for a while, reading through the acceptance letter and the requirements before the start of the school year. It would do no harm whatsoever to her son to start his education here. He was an intelligent boy, he didn't need the small town drama he'd be getting in Smallville about his parents not getting along, he needed his peace and education.

She wasn't a Luthor by birth, she was one by marriage and if her manipulating husband thought he would get the upper hand any longer than he had, he had another thing coming. Lillian had no interest in those games but she had the rage and willpower to counter them. The means, too.

She was getting in touch with her relatives again.

Not a smooth ride, that one, not after several years and disappearing without a word, but her relatives weren't ones to cast their own aside before hearing them out. They were hurt, yes, but forgiving. Lillian had every intention of reconnecting with them without the blame shifting. She had been at fault, too.

The day she returned to Smallville was the day her triumphs would follow one after another with one utter failure.

Keeping Lex safe from Lionel would be a feat. She couldn't be always present everywhere at any given time and Lionel knew how to be.

So, first things first.

Remove Lionel from them, physically.

He wouldn't go with a divorce, she thought as much, neither would Lillian die so easily, much to his disappointment.

That dilemma ended with Lionel getting escorted out of the house by a high spirited Smallville sheriff, who managed – barely – to keep his cool. Things had been much easier once Lillian connected some financial transactions to some events.

For her husband to function, he needed two things – an heir and financial freedom. Very well. He'd have both – given on a drip, in a way he wouldn't notice he's been given it. Let him think he got the upper hand once more.

The most miserable day of her life other than her precious firstborn becoming ill came in a horrific combination of losing her second son through stillbirth being no doubt caused by a series of most suspicious events with a visible crack in her husband's state of mind.

Lord have mercy, she did it. She broke him. She broke her own heart with it, but she married him, they were in this for better or worse. In her case, through hell and deeper hell.

Now, to ensure he wouldn't wake up one morning and decide to blame his and her faults on her Lex. One never knew with people like him.

She didn't hate the man. There was no point. What strength she had since the start of this sure path of complete disaster of a family life, she directed it into loving her son and making sure he was safe. Hating the man she married would be just a waste of it.

Lionel started locking himself up into his workplace. At first, nothing suspicious.

Then, as time went on, more and more.

Just as Lillian thought she'd have to step into the ring again, really not feeling up to it, another misfortune fell upon them.

The news of Lionel's most unfortunate demise at work came out of nowhere. At first no one believed it, until the sheriff up and went to see it for himself, mostly to spare Lillian the trouble. Also, to make sure that wasn't one of Lionel's mind games.

Heaven's know they were sick of those.

Alas, that wasn't the case.

The man lying on the cold slab in the well lit room of the coroner's was in fact, Lionel Luthor himself. This was not a ruse. The fact that people refused to believe it at first kind of ironically confirmed it.

He was gone.

Just like that.

No more Lionel Luthor.

It's plain uncomfortable to say the sheriff sat down in his car and laughed himself almost sick before reality sat with him. People did have the weirdest reactions in situations like this, he'd seen his share back when he was in training and he had the duty to pass on the news when traffic accidents and other life ending events occurred but he didn't think himself the type to...laugh. Good thing he was alone. Not his proudest moment.

Lex came home that day to find his mother in downright hysterics.

The grief, the guilt, and the utter relief of being free from that man came crashing on her like a near fatal tidal wave crashing full weight against the shore.

She could barely open her eyes in the mornings that followed, forcing herself to sit up at least. She lost so much weight and ended up in a hospital afterwards. She would forever be a shadow of herself after what recovery she could have had. God, she needed rest.

Another episode of utter hysterics seemed to have put her on the right tracks again. Physically, she was now engaging a battle with cancer, no doubt in some medical minds a result of her life.

Mentally, she felt raw, exposed to the world but free. Free to think, free to not be afraid any more, free to not think about someone lurking in the shadows, free from having to be cautious, free from everything chaining her down.

If cancer was the price for this freedom, she would endure it.

She had seen her son recover from the first illness as he went through puberty, seen those dreadful headaches occur less frequently although not fully gone. They would probably never entirely disappear, but he could live with it. Really live with it, not just survive until the next episode.

Alas, her life long warfare with Lionel sapped a lot of her inner strength, his sudden demise made sure to get the rest of it.

She fought it as long as she could, bought whatever time she could with each chemotherapy cycle and lived to see Lex grow up to college.

She would not live to see him off to one, but she would make sure he knows she's proud.

**Author's Note:**

> *sips on coffee


End file.
